U.S. patent application number 14/438908 was filed with the patent office on 2015-11-26 for method and apparatus for managing a transaction right.
The applicant listed for this patent is KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.. Invention is credited to XIN GE, FULONG MA, JIN QU.
Application Number | 20150341360 14/438908 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49639923 |
Filed Date | 2015-11-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150341360 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
QU; JIN ; et al. |
November 26, 2015 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING A TRANSACTION RIGHT
Abstract
This invention provides a method for managing a transaction
right in a digital rights management server. The transaction right
is the right to a transaction of a utilization right of a digital
content item. The method comprises steps of obtaining an attribute
associated with the digital content item from metadata of the
digital content item; and generating the transaction right on the
basis of a pre-stored rule and the attribute of the digital content
item. Since the transaction right is generated on the basis of the
attribute of the digital content item, or in other words, the
transaction right is dependent on the attribute of the digital
content item, the generated transaction right of digital content
items can be different if the corresponding attribute associated
with the digital content items are different. Furthermore, in
additional to the metadata, the generation of the transaction right
only requires the pre-stored rule, resulting in affordable
complexity and cost. Since the transaction right is also dependent
on the pre-stored rule, the content providers need not to
individually set the transaction right for each digital content
item, but are still able to set the transaction right by setting
the pre-stored rule.
Inventors: |
QU; JIN; (SHANGHAI, CN)
; MA; FULONG; (EINDHOVEN, NL) ; GE; XIN;
(SHANGHAI, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V. |
Eindhoven |
|
NL |
|
|
Family ID: |
49639923 |
Appl. No.: |
14/438908 |
Filed: |
November 1, 2013 |
PCT Filed: |
November 1, 2013 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/IB2013/059835 |
371 Date: |
April 28, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
726/30 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 2221/0795 20130101;
H04L 63/20 20130101; G06F 21/10 20130101; H04L 63/10 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/06 20060101
H04L029/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 13, 2012 |
CN |
PCT/CN2012/084501 |
Claims
1. A method for managing a transaction right in a digital rights
management server, the transaction right being the right to a
transaction of a utilization right of a digital content item, the
method comprising steps of: obtaining an attribute associated with
the digital content item from metadata of the digital content item;
and generating the transaction right on the basis of a pre-stored
rule and the attribute of the digital content item.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the attribute is
associated with at least one of type, length, author, publishing
date, publishing price, transaction times, utilization times, and
ranking of the digital content item.
3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: updating
the attribute on the basis of transactions and/or utilizations of
the digital content item.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transaction right
comprises one or more right entries, and each right entry indicates
one of the following restrictions for the transaction of the
utility right of the digital content item: restriction on
transaction times, restriction on transaction frequency,
restriction on transaction time, restriction on a geographic area
of the transaction, and restriction on price of the
transaction.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the method further
comprises a step of obtaining transaction information of at least
one transaction of the utilization right of the digital content
item; and the step of generating comprises generating the
transaction right on the basis of the pre-stored rule, the
attribute of the digital content item and the transaction
information of the at least one transaction.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the transaction
information of the at least one transaction is recorded in a
license for the utilization right.
7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining
the transaction right; obtaining transaction information of at
least one transaction of the utilization right of the digital
content item; and updating the transaction right on the basis of
the transaction information of the at least one transaction and at
least one of the attribute, the obtained transaction right, and the
pre-stored rule.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transaction right
of the utilization right is recorded in a license for the
utilization right.
9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:
receiving a request for the transaction right before the step of
obtaining the attribute, the request including the metadata of the
digital content item; and sending the transaction right after the
step of generating the transaction right.
10. A method for supporting a transaction of a utilization right of
a digital content item, a transaction right being the right to a
transaction of the utilization right of the digital content item,
the method comprising a step of: sending a request for the
transaction right to a digital rights management server, the
request including the metadata of the digital content item, the
metadata of the digital content item comprising an attribute
associated with the digital content item; wherein the transaction
right is generated by the digital rights management server on the
basis of a pre-stored rule and the attribute of the digital content
item.
11. A method for supporting a transaction of a utilization right of
a digital content item, a transaction right being the right to a
transaction of the utilization right of the digital content item,
the method comprising a step of: receiving the transaction right
from a digital rights management server, the transaction right
being generated by a digital rights management server on the basis
of a pre-stored rule and an attribute of the digital content item
in metadata of the digital content item.
12. An apparatus in a digital rights management server for managing
a transaction right, the transaction right being the right to a
transaction of a utilization right of a digital content item, the
apparatus comprising: an obtaining unit for obtaining an attribute
associated with the digital content item from metadata of the
digital content item; and a generating unit for generating the
transaction right on the basis of a pre-stored rule and the
attribute of the digital content item.
13. An apparatus for supporting a transaction of a utilization
right of a digital content item, a transaction right being the
right to a transaction of the utilization right of the digital
content item, the apparatus comprising: a sending unit for sending
a request for the transaction right to a digital rights management
server, the request including the metadata of the digital content
item, the metadata of the digital content item comprising an
attribute associated with the digital content item; wherein the
transaction right is generated by a digital rights management
server on the basis of a pre-stored rule and the attribute of the
digital content item.
14. An apparatus for supporting a transaction of a utilization
right of a digital content item, a transaction right being the
right to a transaction of the utilization right of the digital
content item, the apparatus comprising: a receiving unit for
receiving the transaction right, the transaction right being
generated by a digital rights management server on the basis of a
pre-stored rule and an attribute of the digital content item in
metadata of the digital content item.
15. Computer-executable instructions for managing a transaction
right, the transaction right being the right to a transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item, wherein the
computer-executable instructions are configured to perform the
method according to claim 1 when being executed.
16. Computer-executable instructions for supporting a transaction
of a utilization right of a digital content item, a transaction
right being a right to a transaction of the utilization right of
the digital content item, wherein the computer-executable
instructions are configured to perform the method according to
claim 10 when being executed.
17. Computer-executable instructions for supporting a transaction
of a utilization right of a digital content item, a transaction
right being a right to a transaction of the utilization right of
the digital content item, wherein the computer-executable
instructions are configured to perform the method according to
claim 11 when being executed.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to digital rights management and, more
particularly, to a method and apparatus for managing a transaction
right.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Nowadays, customers have been used to purchase and use
e-books, music files, movie files and software files (generally
referred to as digital content items hereinafter) in additional to
the traditional counterparts such as paper books, CDs carrying
music files, DVDs carrying movie files and Disks carrying software
files. Furthermore, more and more customers have a need for
reselling the digital content items purchased from content
providers, just like they have been long permitted to resell the
traditional counterparts.
[0003] The publication US 2011/0231273 A1 discloses a secondary
market for previously sold digital media content. Each of the
previously sold digital media content items can include a
utilization right and a transfer right. The transfer right of a
media content item grants a right to transfer ownership of the
utilization right of the media content item to another. The
transfer right can include multi lower level rights, such as
different permission levels for this right, durations,
restrictions, encoding, a right to reformat, a right to modify
fidelity, a right to embody within specific tangible medium types
(DVD, BluRay, flash memory, etc.), and the like.
[0004] In the publication US 2011/0231273 A1, a transfer right is
introduced to define a right to resell a media content item, but
there is no disclosure about the management of the transfer
right.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The inventor of the present invention has recognized the
following difficulties for resale of digital content items.
[0006] The resale of a digital content item is not realizable
without a concrete solution for managing the right to resell the
digital content item. The content provider may desire to place
different restrictions on the resale for different digital content
items or even for different utilization rights of the same digital
content item granted to different users. Accordingly, the right to
resell may be different for different digital content items or even
for different utilization rights of the same digital content item.
However, the number of the digital content items as well as the
number of the utilization rights of each digital item is expected
to be huge and increase continuously, and thus, individually
setting and recording the right for each digital content item or
even for each utilization right of the digital content item could
require tremendous work and mass database.
[0007] Based on the understanding of the technical problems and
prior art described above, it would be desirable to provide a
solution for managing a right to resell a digital content item,
such as creating and/or updating the rights. It would be also
desirable to provide a mechanism for placing different right to
resell for different digital item or even for different sold-out
utilization rights of each digital content item with affordable
complexity and cost.
[0008] To better address one or more of the above concerns,
according to an embodiment of an aspect of the present invention, a
method for managing a transaction right in a digital rights
management server is provided. The transaction right is the right
to a transaction of a utilization right of a digital content item.
The method comprises steps of:
[0009] obtaining an attribute associated with the digital content
item from metadata of the digital content item; and
[0010] generating the transaction right on the basis of a
pre-stored rule and the attribute of the digital content item.
[0011] Since the transaction right is generated on the basis of the
attribute of the digital content item, or in other words, the
transaction right is dependent on the attribute of the digital
content item, the generated transaction right of digital content
items can be different if the corresponding attribute associated
with the digital content items are different. Furthermore, in
additional to the metadata, the generation of the transaction right
only requires the pre-stored rule, resulting in affordable
complexity and cost. Since the transaction right is also dependent
on the pre-stored rule, the content providers need not to
individually set the transaction right for each digital content
item, but are still able to set the transaction right by setting
the pre-stored rule. Additionally, the metadata of the digital
content item is widely used in digital rights management, and thus,
the provided method can be integrated into almost all kinds of
digital rights management system without difficulties.
[0012] The digital content item can refer to any digitalized
content item suitable for electronic transaction, including
e-books, photograph files, music files, movie files, software files
etc. or a combination thereof. The digital content item is
unnecessary to be carried by any tangible object, but can be
downloaded via internet, for example.
[0013] A transaction of a utilization right of a digital content
item includes both a first-hand transaction in which the seller is
a content provider and the seller grants the purchaser the
utilization right of the digital content item and a second-hand
transaction in which the ownership of the utilization right is
transferred from the seller to the purchaser.
[0014] In another embodiment, the attribute is associated with at
least one of type, length, author, publishing date, publishing
price, transaction times, utilization times, and ranking of the
digital content item. Since the attribute can be various, the
transaction right can be set in a very flexible way.
[0015] Accordingly, the attribute can either be static (e.g.
author, publishing date) or time-varying (e.g. transaction times,
utilization times).
[0016] In another embodiment, the method further comprises updating
the attribute on the basis of transactions and/or utilizations of
the digital content item.
[0017] In this way, the attribute of the digital content item can
be dynamic in accordance with the transactions and/or utilizations
of the digital content item, and thus, the transaction right
generated based thereon can also be dynamic.
[0018] In another embodiment, the transaction right comprises one
or more right entries, and each right entry indicates one of the
following restrictions for the transaction of the utility right of
the digital content item: restriction on transaction times,
restriction on transaction frequency, restriction on transaction
time, restriction on a geographic area of the transaction, and
restriction on price of the transaction.
[0019] In this way, the transaction right can contain various
restrictions to meet various demands of the content providers.
[0020] In another embodiment, the method further comprises a step
of obtaining transaction information of at least one transaction of
the utilization right of the digital content item; and the step of
generating comprises generating the transaction right on the basis
of the pre-stored rule, the attribute of the digital content item
and the transaction information of the at least one
transaction.
[0021] Since the generated transaction right is not only dependent
on the attribute of the digital content item but also dependent on
at least one transaction of the utilization right of the digital
content item, the transaction right of a digital content item can
be set differently for different utilization rights of the digital
content item.
[0022] In another embodiment, the transaction information of the at
least one transaction is recorded in a license for the utilization
right.
[0023] Since the license for the utilization right can only be
modified by the digital management server, the transaction
information can be prevented from any malicious modification.
[0024] In another embodiment, the method further comprises:
[0025] obtaining the transaction right;
[0026] obtaining transaction information of at least one
transaction of the utilization right of the digital content item;
and
[0027] updating the transaction right on the basis of the
transaction information of the at least one transaction and at
least one of the attribute, the obtained transaction right, and the
pre-stored rule.
[0028] In another embodiment, the transaction right of the
utilization right is recorded in a license for the utilization
right.
[0029] In another embodiment, the method further comprises steps
of:
[0030] receiving a request for the transaction right before the
step of obtaining the attribute, the request including the metadata
of the digital content item; and
[0031] sending the transaction right after the step of generating
the transaction right.
[0032] According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present
invention, a first method for supporting a transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item is provided. A
transaction right is the right to a transaction of the utilization
right of the digital content item. The method comprising a step
of:
[0033] sending a request for the transaction right to a digital
rights management server, the request including the metadata of the
digital content item, the metadata of the digital content item
comprising an attribute associated with the digital content
item;
[0034] wherein the transaction right is generated by the digital
rights management server on the basis of a pre-stored rule and the
attribute of the digital content item.
[0035] According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present
invention, a second method for supporting a transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item is provided. A
transaction right is the right to a transaction of the utilization
right of the digital content item. The method comprises a step
of:
[0036] receiving the transaction right from a digital rights
management server, the transaction right being generated by a
digital rights management server on the basis of a pre-stored rule
and an attribute of the digital content item in metadata of the
digital content item.
[0037] According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present
invention, an apparatus in a digital rights management server for
managing a transaction right is provided. The transaction right is
the right to a transaction of a utilization right of a digital
content item. The apparatus comprises:
[0038] an obtaining unit for obtaining an attribute associated with
the digital content item from metadata of the digital content item;
and
[0039] a generating unit for generating the transaction right on
the basis of a pre-stored rule and the attribute of the digital
content item.
[0040] According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present
invention, an apparatus for supporting a transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item is provided. A
transaction right is the right to a transaction of the utilization
right of the digital content item. The apparatus comprises:
[0041] a sending unit for sending a request for the transaction
right to a digital rights management server, the request including
the metadata of the digital content item, the metadata of the
digital content item comprising an attribute associated with the
digital content item;
[0042] wherein the transaction right is generated by a digital
rights management server on the basis of a pre-stored rule and the
attribute of the digital content item.
[0043] According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present
invention, an apparatus for supporting a transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item is provided. A
transaction right is the right to a transaction of the utilization
right of the digital content item. The apparatus comprises:
[0044] a receiving unit for receiving the transaction right, the
transaction right being generated by a digital rights management
server on the basis of a pre-stored rule and an attribute of the
digital content item in metadata of the digital content item.
[0045] According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present
invention, computer-executable instructions for managing a
transaction right is provided. The transaction right is the right
to a transaction of a utilization right of a digital content item.
The computer-executable instructions are configured to perform the
above-mentioned method for managing a transaction right in a
digital rights management server.
[0046] According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present
invention, computer-executable instructions for supporting a
transaction of a utilization right of a digital content item is
provided. A transaction right is a right to a transaction of the
utilization right of the digital content item. The
computer-executable instructions are configured to perform the
above-mentioned first method for supporting a transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item.
According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present
invention, computer-executable instructions for supporting a
transaction of a utilization right of a digital content item is
provided. A transaction right is a right to a transaction of the
utilization right of the digital content item. The
computer-executable instructions are configured to perform the
above-mentioned second method for supporting a transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item.
[0047] These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent
from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described
hereinafter.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0048] The above and other objects and features of the present
invention will become more apparent from the following detailed
description considered in connection with the accompanying
drawings, in which:
[0049] FIG. 1 depicts a flowchart of a method for managing a
transaction right in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;
[0050] FIG. 2 depicts a schematic diagram of managing a transaction
right in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;
[0051] FIG. 3 depicts a schematic diagram of a first apparatus for
managing a transaction right, a second and third apparatuses for
supporting a transaction as well as the interconnection among them
in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and
[0052] FIG. 4 depicts a schematic diagram of an exemplary
application scenario in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0053] Detailed description of the present invention is given below
in connection with the accompanying drawings.
[0054] FIG. 1 depicts a flowchart of a method 100 for managing a
transaction right in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0055] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a
method for managing a transaction right in a digital rights
management server is provided.
[0056] The transaction right is the right to a transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item. The digital content
item can refer to any digitalized content item suitable for
electronic transaction, including e-books, photograph files, music
files, movie files, software files etc. or a combination thereof.
The digital content item is unnecessary to be carried by any
tangible object, but can be downloaded via internet, for example. A
transaction of a utilization right of a digital content item
includes both a first-hand transaction in which the seller is a
content provider and the seller grants the purchaser the
utilization right of the digital content item and a second-hand
transaction in which the ownership of the utilization right is
transferred from the seller to the purchaser.
[0057] Referring to FIG. 1, the method 100 comprises a step S120 of
obtaining an attribute associated with the digital content item
from metadata of the digital content item.
[0058] The attribute associated with the digital content item may
also be referred to as intrinsic attribute of the digital content
item, considering that the attribute is associated with the digital
content item and is the same for any utilization right of the
digital content item.
[0059] In an embodiment, the attribute is associated with at least
one of type, length, author, publishing date, publishing price,
transaction times, utilization times, and ranking of the digital
content item.
[0060] The type of the digital content item can be the classified
in accordance with the content of the digital content item. For
example, in case that the digital content item is e-book, the types
of the digital content item can include textbook, academic paper,
classic novel, popular novel, newspaper, etc.
[0061] The transaction times can be the number of first-hand
transactions or the number of first-hand and second-hand
transactions, and the transaction times can be the total
transaction times so far or can be counted over a pre-determined
time period.
[0062] The ranking of the digital content item can be any ranking,
for example, ranking in terms of popularity.
[0063] As it can be seen, the attribute can either be static (e.g.
author, publishing date) or time-varying (e.g. transaction times,
utilization times). In an embodiment, the method 100 can further
comprise updating the attribute on the basis of transactions and/or
utilizations of the digital content item. For example, the
attribute associated with transaction times and/or utilization
times shall be updated on the basis of transactions and/or
utilizations of the digital content item. For another example,
since the ranking of the digital content item can also be dependent
on the transactions and/or utilization of the digital content item
(e.g. more transactions, higher ranking), the attribute associated
with ranking shall also be updated accordingly.
[0064] In an embodiment, a plurality of categories are defined for
the digital content item according to at least one of type, length,
author, publishing date, publishing price, transaction times,
utilization times, and ranking of the digital content item, and the
attribute of the digital content item includes the information
indicating the category of the digital content item.
[0065] In general, the metadata of the digital content item
comprises a plurality of fields. Accordingly, the intrinsic
attribute of the digital content item can be one field of the
metadata or a combination of two or more fields of the
metadata.
[0066] The field of the metadata can be an existing field defined
in the current standards, such as the author of the digital content
item or the publishing date of the digital content item.
[0067] Alternatively, the field of the metadata can be a field
newly defined for the purpose of transaction right management. For
example, a field of transaction times can be defined and inserted
in the metadata of the digital content item. For another example, a
field of category can be defined and inserted in the metadata of
the digital content item.
[0068] Further referring to FIG. 1, the method 100 further
comprises a step S130 of generating the transaction right on the
basis of a pre-stored rule and the attribute of the digital content
item.
[0069] The step S130 can be performed for different purposes. When
there is no transaction right bonding with a digital content item,
the step S130 can be performed to create a transaction right for
the digital content item. When there is a transaction right bonding
with a digital content item, the step S130 can be performed to
update the transaction right. For example, the transaction right
can be updated when the pre-stored rule is changed and/or when the
attribute of the digital content item is changed.
[0070] Each transaction right comprises one or more right entries,
and each right entry indicates one of the following restrictions
for the transaction of the utility right of the digital content
item: restriction on transaction times, restriction on transaction
frequency, restriction on transaction time, restriction on a
geographic area of the transaction, and restriction on price of the
transaction.
[0071] In an embodiment, each right entry can comprise two parts,
the type and the value. The type of right entries can include but
not limited to the maximum number of transactions in a life time,
the maximum transaction frequency, no permission of transaction in
a time period after publishing, no permission of transaction for a
time period after last transaction, geographic restriction, the
lowest price of transaction, and pages range for preview. For
example, if the type of a right entry is the maximum number of
transaction time in a life time and the value of the right entry is
3, the right entry indicates that the digital content item cannot
be transacted more than 3 times; if the type of a right entry is no
permission of transaction in a time period after publishing and the
value is 1, the right entry indicates that no second transaction is
permitted within 1 year after publishing; if the type of a right
entry is geographic restriction and the value is China, the right
entry indicates that the digital content item can only be
transacted within China.
[0072] The pre-stored rule can be set by publishers. In an
embodiment, a plurality of rules are pre-stored, each of which are
set by a different publisher. Alternatively, the pre-stored rule
can be determined by the publisher and the retailer together.
[0073] According to the pre-stored rule, different transaction
rights can be defined according to the intrinsic attribute of the
digital content item.
[0074] Taking e-book as an example, if an e-book belongs to popular
periodicals, popular web novels etc. and thus its value reduce
quickly with the time, the transaction right of the book may be
defined as not permitted in a time period or transaction for a
limited times for a period. If an e-book belongs to classical novel
and thus its value is stable, the transaction right of the book may
be defined as limited number of transaction times. If an e-book
belongs to newspaper and thus its value of the book is perishable
soon, the transaction right of the book may be defined as not
permitted to be transacted in a short time period. If an e-book
belongs to academic paper and thus its value may be stable, the
transaction right may be defined as not permitted to be transacted.
If an e-book belongs to textbook and thus its value may be stable
but reduce quickly for a particular user, the transaction right may
be defined as limited number of transaction times for a long period
as well as not permitted to be transacted again in a certain
period.
[0075] According to an embodiment, in the case that the intrinsic
attribute of the digital content item includes the information
indicating the category of the digital content item, the pre-stored
rule can comprise a plurality of transaction rights with each
corresponding to one of the plurality of categories.
[0076] Further referring to FIG. 1, the method 100 can further
comprise a step S110 before the step S120, and a step S140 after
the step S130. In the step S110, a request for the transaction
right is received, and the request includes the metadata of the
digital content item. The received meta data is then used in step
S120 to obtain the intrinsic attribute of the digital content item.
In the step S140, the transaction right generated in the step S130
is sent.
[0077] FIG. 2 depicts a schematic diagram of managing a transaction
right in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Managing transaction right includes creating and/or updating
transaction right.
[0078] As shown in FIG. 1, the method for managing the transaction
right comprises a step S130 of generating the transaction right on
the basis of the pre-stored rule and the attribute of the digital
content item. Referring to FIG. 2, managing 200 transaction right
of the utilization right of the digital content item can be further
on the basis of transaction information 230 and/or previous
transaction right 240 in addition to the intrinsic attribute 210
and the pre-stored rule 220.
[0079] The transaction information 230 refers to transaction
information of at least one transaction of the utilization right of
the digital content item.
[0080] The transaction information 230 can include the transaction
information of the most recent transaction only. Alternatively, the
transaction information 230 can include the transaction information
of all transactions, including the first-hand transaction as well
as any existing second-hand transactions.
[0081] The transaction information 230 can include statistical
information such as the total amount of transaction times.
Additionally or alternatively, the transaction information 230 can
include transaction information for each of the at least one of the
transactions. The transaction information of each transaction can
include date of the transaction and/or price of the transaction.
The transaction information of a transaction can include
information about the seller and/or the purchaser such as
geographic area where the seller and/or the seller is located
and/or customer class of the seller and/or the purchaser. For
example, the customer class may indicate whether the customer is a
VIP customer not.
[0082] In an embodiment, when updating a transaction right, the
previous transaction right 240 can be used with/without the
pre-stored rule to generate the new transaction right 250. For
example, this is beneficial in the case in which the pre-stored
rule is changed after the generation of the previous transaction
right 240, and at least some of the previous transaction right 240
shall not be impacted by the new pre-stored rule.
[0083] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the
transaction information 230 as well as the transaction right
240/250 is recorded in the license for the utilization right. Since
the license for the utilization right can only be modified by the
digital management server, the transaction information can be
prevented from any malicious modification.
[0084] The transaction right is to be managed in many different
scenarios, some of which are illustratively described below.
[0085] In a first scenario, during a first-hand transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item occurs, a transaction
right is created for the utilization right of the digital content
item.
[0086] In a second scenario, during a second-hand transaction of a
utilization right of a digital content item occurs, a transaction
right is created if no transaction right is defined for the
utilization right, or the transaction right of the utilization
right is updated according to the second-hand transaction. For
example, if the transaction right comprises a value for the number
of allowed transaction times, the transaction right can be updated
by decreasing the value by 1.
[0087] In a third scenario, no transaction right has been created
for the utilization of a digital content item during any previous
transaction of the digital content item, but a transaction right is
created upon the request of the owner of the utilization right of a
digital content item. For example, this can be applied for those
digital content items sold out before the transaction right has
ever been introduced to digital rights management.
[0088] In a fourth scenario, in response to a change in the
pre-stored rule, all transaction right based on the pre-stored rule
can be updated.
[0089] In a fifth scenario, in response to a change in the
intrinsic attribute of a digital content item, the transaction
right of each utilization right of the digital content item can be
updated.
[0090] FIG. 3 depicts a schematic diagram of a first apparatus for
managing a transaction right, a second and third apparatuses for
supporting a transaction as well as the interconnection among them
in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0091] Referring FIG. 3, the first apparatus 310 for managing a
transaction right comprises an obtaining unit 312 for obtaining an
attribute associated with the digital content item from metadata of
the digital content item and a generating unit 313 for generating
the transaction right on the basis of a pre-stored rule and the
attribute of the digital content item. Additionally, the first
apparatus 310 can further comprise a receiving unit 311 and a
sending unit 314. The receiving unit 311 receives a request for the
transaction right, which includes the metadata of the digital
content item. The metadata of the digital content item is then
forwarded to the obtaining unit 312 to obtain the attribute
associated with the digital content item. The sending unit 314
receives the generated transaction right from the generating unit
313 and then sends the transaction right.
[0092] Further referring FIG. 3, a second apparatus 320 for
supporting a transaction comprises a sending unit 321 for sending a
request for the transaction right, which includes the metadata of
the digital content item. A third apparatus 330 for supporting a
transaction comprises a receiving unit 331 for receiving a
transaction right.
[0093] In an embodiment, the first apparatus 310 can reside within
a digital management server. Alternatively, the first apparatus 310
can be separate from the digital management server but is
communicatively coupled to the digital management server.
[0094] In an embodiment, the second apparatus 320 can reside in a
transaction platform. The transaction platform can be operated by
the publisher, the retailer or a third party. Typically, the
platform should be authorized by the publisher and/or the retailer
or else could be authorized by a same higher level organization, if
the platform is operated by a third party. For example, when a deal
is made for a transaction of a utilization right of a digital
content item between two customers (i.e. a seller and a purchaser)
on the transaction platform, the platform can send a request for
transaction right to the first apparatus 310. Additionally or
alternatively, the second apparatus 320 can reside in a digital
right management client of a customer. For example, when a customer
sells a utilization right of a digital content item to another
customer, he can directly sends a request for transaction right to
the first apparatus 310.
[0095] In an embodiment, the third apparatus 330 can reside in the
transaction platform. For example, when the transaction platform
receives a transaction right of a utilization right of a digital
content item from the first apparatus, it then forwards the
received transaction right to the owner of the utilization right,
namely the purchaser in the dealt transaction. Additionally or
alternatively, the third apparatus 330 can reside in a digital
right management client of a customer. For example, when a customer
purchases a utilization right of a digital content item from
another customer, he can directly receives the transaction right of
the utilization right from the first apparatus 310.
[0096] FIG. 4 depicts a schematic diagram of an exemplary
application scenario in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention.
[0097] In this embodiment, a license for a utilization right of an
e-book comprises transaction right. Optionally, the license may
further comprise a history record which contains transaction
information of the past transactions of the utilization right.
[0098] In this embodiment, the metadata of an e-book includes an
intrinsic attribute field carrying the attribute associated with
the e-book. The attribute indicates the category of the e-book. For
illustrative purpose, an example for the metadata of the e-book 400
is shown as follows: [0099] Metadata: [0100] {e-book ID: 12345678;
[0101] Title: XXXXX; [0102] Publisher ID: 87654321 [0103]
Attribute: popular novel}
[0104] In this embodiment, a plurality of categories are defined
according to e-book type, including newspaper, news periodicals,
healthcare periodicals, popular science periodicals, popular
novels, classic novels, academic paper, market report, textbook for
primary and secondary schools, textbook for university. A number of
rules are pre-stored in a rule database. Each rule corresponds to a
different publisher. Each rule contains a plurality of transaction
rights, each of which corresponds to one of the plurality of
categories. For illustrative purpose, an example a pre-stored rule
corresponding to a publisher with ID 87654321 is shown as follows.
(Please note that only the transaction right for the category of
popular novels are shown whilst the others are omitted for
conciseness.)
TABLE-US-00001 Pre-stored rule: {Publisher ID: 87654321 Category 0:
News paper Category 1: News periodicals Category 2: Healthcare
periodicals Category 3: Popular science periodicals Category 4:
Popular novels {Transaction rule: The amount of transaction times
{Restriction 1: <2 times in the first year } Geographic
restriction: China; Price range of transaction; {Restriction 1:
>75% in the first year } Pages range for preview {Restriction 1:
preface; Restriction 2: <20 pages} } Category 5: Classic novels
Category 6: academic paper Category 7: Market report Category 8:
Textbook for primary and secondary schools Category 9: Textbook for
university Category ...}
[0105] In this embodiment, when the customer 451 purchases the
utilization right of the e-book 400 from the publisher or the
retailer, the transaction right of the utilization right is also
generated and included in the license for the utilization right,
and then the license is granted to the customer 451. According to
the exemplary metadata of the e-book 400 and the exemplary
pre-stored rule shown in the above, the transaction right is
generated as follows:
TABLE-US-00002 Transaction rights: { The amount of transaction
times {Restriction 1: <2 times in the first year} Geographic
restriction: China; Price range of transaction; {Restriction 1:
>75% in the first year} }
[0106] With reference to FIG. 4, the procedure for a transaction of
a utilization right of an e-book 400 from a customer 451 to a
customer 452 via a transaction platform 420 in accordance with an
embodiment of the invention will be described below.
[0107] In step S410, the customer 451 who tries to resell the
utilization right of e-book 400 to the customer 452 firstly sends a
transaction request to the transaction platform 420, for example
via the digital rights management (DRM) client. The transaction
request includes the e-book ID of the e-book 400, the license for
the utilization right of the e-book 400 which contains the
transaction right, and the transaction information of the requested
transaction including the user ID of the customer 451, the user ID
of the customer 452 who the customer 451 tries to resell the e-book
to, the price, the date when the customer 451 purchased the e-book
400. Alternative to the license for the utilization right of the
e-book 400, the transaction request can include the license ID of
the license. As well-known, the DMR server 430 typically has a
license database from which a license can be retrieved using the
corresponding license ID.
[0108] After receiving the transaction request from the customer
451, the transaction platform 420 check whether the requested
transaction is permitted according to the transaction right and the
transaction information of the requested transaction included in
the transaction request. If the requested transaction is not
permitted, the procedure is terminated. In this embodiment, assume
that the date when the customer 451 purchases the e-book 400 is
Jun. 19, 2012, the current date is Jul. 19, 2012, the customer 452
is located in China, and the price is 85% of the original price,
and accordingly the transaction platform 420 determines that the
requested transaction is permitted. Alternative to the transaction
platform 420, the DRM server 430 may check whether the requested
transaction is permitted or not and inform the transaction platform
420 of the checking results.
[0109] Once determining that the requested transaction is
permitted, the transaction platform 420 triggers the license
acquisition process by sending a trigger to the DRM server 430,
wherein the license is to be granted to the purchaser of the
permitted transaction, namely the customer 452. The trigger
comprises the metadata of the e-book 400 including the intrinsic
attribute and the transaction information of the permitted
transaction. The transaction platform 420 can obtain the metadata
of the e-book 400 from the corresponding publisher 410 or from the
customer 451. Optionally, the trigger comprises all information in
the transaction request.
[0110] When receiving the trigger from the transaction platform
420, the DRM server 430 generates an updated transaction rights for
the purchaser of the permitted transaction, namely the customer 452
as follows:
TABLE-US-00003 Transaction right; { The amount of transaction times
{Restriction 1: <1 times in future 11 months} Geographic
restriction: China; Price range of transaction; {Restriction 1:
>75% in future 11 month} }
[0111] Next, the DRM server 430 generates a license for the
utilization right of the e-book 400 which includes the updated
transaction right.
[0112] In step S430, the DRM server 430 grants the generated
license with the updated transaction right to the customer 452.
[0113] As shown in FIG. 4, the customer 452 downloads the e-book
400 from the transaction platform. Alternatively, the customer 452
may receive the e-book 400 directly from the customer 451. Upon
obtaining both the e-book 400 and the license for the utilization
right of the e-book 400, the customer 452 can read the e-book.
[0114] In step S440, the DRM server 430 instructs the DRM client of
the customer 451 to destroy the license of the utilization right of
the e-book 400 such that the customer 451 no long has the right to
use the e-book 400. In case that license for the utilization right
of the e-book 400 contains license for utilization right of other
e-books, the DRM server 430 may modify the license such that it no
longer contains the license for the utilization right of the e-book
400 and then send the modified license to customer 451.
[0115] A set of computer-executable instructions is further
proposed to perform the methods described above. The instructions
can resides in the sending unit, the obtaining unit, the generating
unit and/or the receiving unit of the first apparatus, in the
sending unit of the second apparatus and/or in the receiving unit
of the third apparatus to perform any step of the above disclosed
methods.
[0116] Although the present invention will be described with
reference to the embodiment shown in the drawings, it should be
understood that the present invention may be embodied in many
alternate forms including any combination of hardware and software.
In addition, any suitable size, shape or type of materials,
elements, computer program elements, computer program code, or
computer program modules could be used.
[0117] While discussed in the context of computer program code, it
should be understood that the modules may be implemented in
hardware circuitry, computer program code, or any combination of
hardware circuitry and computer program code.
[0118] It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments
illustrated rather than limit the invention and that those skilled
in the art would be able to design alternative embodiments without
departing from the scope of the appended claims. The embodiments
are illustrative rather than restrictive. It is intended that the
invention include all modifications and variations to the
illustrated and described embodiments within the scope and spirit
of the invention. In the claims, any reference signs placed between
parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word
"comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps not
listed in a claim or in the description. The word "a" or "an"
preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality
of such elements. In the device claims enumerating several units,
several of these units can be embodied by one and the same item of
hardware or software. The usage of the words first, second and
third, et cetera, does not indicate any ordering. These words are
to be interpreted as names.
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